What the Citizens Against The Train Say About the Debate

Publish Date:

Sunday, June 1, 2014 - 9:00pm

Public monies--taxpayer monies---at the federal, state, and local levels are being sought to fund this AAF boondoggle. While the AAF "infrastructure program is being instituted with private-sector dollars,” as Reininger says, in reality it's the public being squeezed to cough up safety and infrastructure systems for this quasi high speed rail that provides no economic benefits to 4 of the 8 counties it will travel through---but is quite the safety nightmare.

Henry Flagler said of his intent to extend his railroad to Key West, "I believe this state is the easiest place for many men to gain a living. I do not believe any one else would develop it if I do not ... but I do hope to live long enough to prove I am a good business man by getting a dividend on my investment." Unfortunately, Flagler did not live long enough to determine if his endeavor was sound. And if it was sound, the railway to our nation's southern most point would have been reconstructed after a major hurricane in 1935.The point is, P. Michael Reininger's words seem very similar to those words spoken by Flagler at the onset of a business venture that failed. Reininger's words; “If you participate in the economy of Florida in any way ... you can’t help but be benefitted by the literally thousands of jobs and billions of dollars that will be coming into it that will be directly related to the investment that’s being made by a private company." But Flagler's venture did provide one necessity; bridge piers. Little did he know he was laying the foundation for a highway to Key West, where none existed prior. Flagler did know one thing. His railroad would prosper by connecting with the towns in it's path; not by passing through them without stopping. For All Aboard's modern venture, hype is more than a century old and failure will not provide anything that doesn't already exist. But trains simply passing through multiple communities without stopping while sheepishly trying to convince those folks they're getting a huge financial benefit is outlandishly misleading!

AAF doesn't care about public safety, AAF isn't concerned with the communities it will travel through and those it will detrimentally disrupt, and FDOT appears to already be in the pocket of AAF. Your above statement personifies the unethical and unprofessional manner in which FECI and subsidiaries appear to operate. Such manipulation as you pen above is the very way in which the rail acquired much east coast ROW in the early 1900s when the Inland Navigation was dredging the Intracoastal. Almost 100 years later, it seems there is still no integrity in this business of robber barons and railroad bulls.
So, as you say, It's time to let the Rail Wars begin!